(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, Black unemployment dropped to 13.3 percent, President Obama will propose cutting Social Security, Medicare and other government benefits in new budget and a federal judge ruled to make a common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages.

The national unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent, while Black unemployment dropped to 13.3 percent. [BET]

As part of his new budget, President Obama will propose cutting Social Security, Medicare and other government benefits. [LA Times]

A federal judge ruled Friday that the government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages. [NY Times]

Attorney General Eric Holder said Martin Luther King Jr. “would not yet be satisfied” with the progress the nation has made on protecting voting rights. [Black Voices]

A murder suspect in Mississippi was found dead after he shot and killed Eric Smith, a homicide detective, inside an interrogation room on Thursday. [CBS]

Ex-Florida Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll opened up about her resignation after being tied to a veterans charity that is under federal investigation for gambling. [BET]

Roger Ebert, who died at the age of 70 Thursday, was a champion of Black film. [The Grio]

Two missiles have been loaded onto mobile launchers in North Korea and are ready to be launched, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Friday. [CNN]

A building collapsed in the Mumbai suburb of Thane, India, leaving 45 people dead. [USA Today]

(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, the African-American unemployment rate has held steady at 13.8 percent, Michael Jordan applied for a marriage license and Philadelphia officials have voted to close 23 public schools.

The national unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent as the jobless rate for Blacks held steady at 13.8 percent. [BET]

Philadelphia officials have voted to close 23 public schools; 10 percent of the city’s total. [NYTimes]

A college education is linked to lower divorce rates for white women, but not for Black women. [Futurity]

The late August Wilson’s plays are being brought back to life by high school students in a national monologue contest. [NPR]

Facebook showed off a new home page redesign that will include bigger pictures. [NYTimes]

Apple is looking to make iOS the operating system for cars made by other companies. [Business Insider]

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be laid to rest today. [CNN]

Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, has been brought to New York to stand trial for conspiracy to kill Americans. [Reuters]

Michael Jordan applied for a marriage license in Florida. [ESPN]

In today’s top news, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Obama’s reelection, the Black unemployment rate rose to 14.3 percent in October and President Obama and Mitt Romney are winding up their final campaign events in swing states.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Obama’s reelection. [BET]

The Black unemployment rate rose to 14.3 percent in October. [BET]

President Obama and Mitt Romney are winding up their final campaign events in swing states. [CNN]

The bodies of two NYC boys swept away by Hurricane Sandy were found. [NYPost]

Newark Mayor Cory Booker let a Hurricane Sandy victim “hang out” at his house and use his electricity. [Observer]

New charges were filed against Penn State officials in the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case. [CNN]

A sequel to The Best Man is scheduled for a Nov. 15, 2013 release. [BET]

Iranians mark the anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure. [AP]

Three Kenyans have been charged with the murder of Venezuela’s ambassador to Kenya. [BBC]

South African president Jacob Zuma calls for traditional African courts to solve “African problems.” [BBC]

In today’s top news, Chris Brown leaves his girlfriend for a friendship with Rihanna, more Blacks found work in September and an NAACP official says an Obama campaign official threatened him.

Chris Brown leaves his girlfriend for a friendship with Rihanna. [BET]

The Black unemployment rate fell in September. [BET]

An NAACP official says an Obama campaign official threatened him. [CBS]

Nicki Minaj says she didn’t threaten to shoot Mariah Carey. [BET]

Jay-Z will stream the last of his Barclays concerts on his new YouTube channel. [AP]

Chicago police find massive 1,000 foot tall marijuana plants growing in an urban farm. [AP]

Virgin Mobile’s Richard Branson calls the U.S. war on drugs a “war on Black people.” [Metro]

A U.K. court rules that Kenyans tortured by British colonial forces may sue the government. [BBC]

South African miners say police killed another striker. [Reuters]

In today’s top news, Olympian gymnast Gabrielle Douglas gets her second gold and makes history, U.N. faces roadblocks in Syria resolution and the African-American unemployment rate dipped in July.

Olympian gymnast Gabrielle Douglas is the first African-American to win gold in the women’s individual all-around competition. [BET]

The African-American unemployment rate fell ever so slightly in July. [BET]

The U.N. General Assembly faces roadblocks in Syria resolution as members butt heads. [AP]

Olympics record holder Michael Phelps sets the bar higher with his 20th gold win. [WaPo]

Gay rights supporters organize a same-sex “kiss in” at Chick-fil-A locations. [ABC]

China media slams Hillary Clinton for warning Africa about exploitative nations. [VOA]

Olympian Kayla Harrison overcame childhood abuse to become the first U.S. judo athlete to win gold. [Boston Globe]

Doctors say that Susan G. Komen for the Cure oversells the benefits of mammograms. [Fox News]

Psychologists find that bronze medalists are often happier than silver medalists. [NPR]

In today’s top news, George Zimmerman’s lawyers are expected to request his release from jail after his bond was revoked Friday, a deadly plane crash kills 163 in Nigeria and Nicki Minaj is boycotting the 2012 Hot 97 Summer Jam concert after a diss from a radio personality.

George Zimmerman’s lawyers are expected to request his release from jail after his bond was revoked Friday. [BET]

A deadly plane crash kills 163 in Nigeria. [CNN]

Nicki Minaj boycotts the 2012 Hot 97 Summer Jam concert after a diss from a radio personality. [BET]

A white Tennessee Baptist’s radio show is canceled over insensitive comments about the Trayvon Martin case. [USATODAY]

Lauryn Hill gets rave reviews for her comeback concert in New York this weekend. [BET]

Facebook may soon allow children under age 13 to set up profiles on the site. [BBC]

Jobless rate for Americans is four points below the average. [USATODAY]

A tragic car crash in Ohio killed the car’s teen driver and two teen passengers just hours before the driver’s high school graduation. [MSNBC]

Mother of a 5-week-old baby is in police custody today after she placed the baby on the roof of her car and drove off. [MSNBC]

The child abuse case of former Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky, is slated to begin tomorrow. [Reuters]

.  More than half of the working-age African-American males in greater Milwaukee are not employed, according to a university report released Sunday.  Milwaukee’s Black male joblessness is second only to Buffalo’s among 35 large metro areas, according to the report from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development. But Milwaukee is second to none in the gap between Black and White joblessness, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The rate of African-American males, ages 16 to 64, without a job in metro Milwaukee jumped to 51.1 percent last year from 46.8 percent in 2006 – probably its highest ever, according to the report’s author. “What we’ve been trying to do in this community to address this issue clearly isn’t working. The numbers continue to get worse, not better,” said Marc Levine, founding director of the economic development center. “And given perilous economic conditions on the horizon, we have every reason to fear that conditions may get even worse.” For every age category, Black males in the four-county Milwaukee area had high jobless rates and big disparities compared with rates for White males and Hispanic males, Levine found. Within racial groups, Milwaukee residents had higher jobless rates than their suburban counterparts. Compared to Milwaukee, the jobless rate for African-Americans in the Buffalo area was 51.4 percent. Metro Detroit ran third, at 50.6 percent. But the unemployment rate for White males in Milwaukee was the third-lowest in the country, at 18.6 percent, creating the biggest gap by far between Blacks and Whites. In his doctoral dissertation for Cardinal Stritch University, Lenard Wells found that Milwaukee-area employers are more likely to hire a White man with a criminal past than a similarly qualified Black man with no record.

Justices hear voting-rights case. The Supreme Court Monday took up a proposed expansion of minorities’ ability to file lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act, the first of two important voting rights cases the court could hear this term, reports The Washington Post. The debate centered on “coalition” political districts, where minority voters make up less than 50 percent of the population but elect minority candidates with support from some White voters. A North Carolina court had ruled, as numerous other courts have, that an important section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that prohibits diluting minority power through redistricting decisions does not apply to such districts. North Carolina officials, acknowledging their state’s history of racial discrimination, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the rulings, a decision that would allow lawsuits challenging “dilution” of minority voting strength in coalition areas. The court’s decision, while it might not come in time for this November’s election, will affect the redrawing of political lines after the 2010 census and is of particular concern to civil rights leaders and the Congressional Black Caucus. Nearly half of the caucus’s members were elected from coalition districts, and some worry that redistricting could threaten them or future Black candidates if states do not fear lawsuits over reapportionment decisions.

Blacks save less for retirement, survey finds. As Wall Street continues to show historic highs and lows, there is a continuing trend of Blacks saving and investing less than Whites, according to a survey released today. The difference is attributed to various social and cultural reasons, such as getting less exposure to personal finance concepts and advice. The poll by Ariel Investments LLC, a Black-owned investment management firm, and the Charles Schwab Corp. found that 62 percent of the Blacks surveyed own stocks or mutual funds, lagging behind the 82 percent of White respondents who said they do. Executives at Chicago-based Ariel Investments said Black stock ownership remains a weak spot as it has been throughout the 11 years the company has been sponsoring the annual survey. “We certainly haven’t seen the kind of progress that we had hoped for,” said Mellody Hobson, Ariel’s president. One marked change, though: The survey has shown historically that Black investors have expressed a preference for real estate investments over the stock market. This year that preference fell to a new low, with just 39 percent of Blacks labeling real estate the “best investment overall.” Their preference stood at 61 percent at the height of the real estate market in 2004. Blacks are on equal footing with Whites when it comes to accessing and enrolling in their employers’ defined contribution plans, according to the survey, which was based on interviews with Blacks and Whites with household incomes of at least $50,000. About nine in 10 of both Blacks and Whites who are working have access to a plan such as a 401(k), and of those about 90 percent of each group contributes regularly.